Internet marketing is essential to major businesses and to many small businesses. In fact, many Internet businesses found a presence on the Internet long after the business was established. Some large corporations were very slow to get on the Internet. The purposes of a large business on the Internet and a small business may be quite different.

Large Corporations

A large corporation wants a presence on the Internet. They want name and brand recognition. Many large corporations have distributors. A good example is an automobile manufacturing company. They want to present their products on the Internet but they do not want to sell them there. That is the job of the dealer and they will direct you to a dealer near your home.

Some of these companies do not have dealers per se, but their products are readily available in supermarkets and drugstores. They are not going to direct you to one of their dealers because they don’t have any dealers, they have distributors, but they do want you to recognize their products.

These large companies also use television to advertise their products, specific products that solve a specific problem. For example, the pharmaceutical industry is well known for this. We are constantly bombarded by their commercials for some drug that relieves symptoms that may cause serious side effects. "Ask your Dr. About Drugcrap."

Small Companies

Small companies usually want to sell on the Internet. They have a product line and they would like to present it to folks on the Internet and give them an opportunity to buy the product. I know a couple who sell doll parts. They had a good business, almost word-of-mouth. They put their products on the Internet and increased their sales several times in a very short time.

My son is a veterinarian but he sold Irish flutes and whistles and such for many years. I told him he should put the products on the Internet. He was already selling on eBay, but when he set up a website, his sales grew dramatically.

He had a long mailing list. He simply told the people on the list about his new side. Therefore his business was an instant success.

He has an interest in herbs so recently we sent him up in a new site. He notified his customers about his new site and went about lecturing and selling a book that he wrote specifically to sell at his lectures.

He is like King Midas. He needs to be like Midas because he has 15 children, many of whom are now in college.

The Dilemma of New Internet Marketers

Internet gurus, presenting themselves as Internet marketing experts, lead many to marketing on the Internet. They have a "system" guaranteed to make you rich. What they really have is a system to make themselves rich. So they mislead and discourage people from ever taking a proper approach to Internet marketing.

I hear many say they want a fool, proof step-by-step method, of making money on the Internet. Many of these dreamers have been corrupted by the gurus.

Folks new to Internet marketing often have little or no sense of business. They don’t think of Internet marketing as being a business. They think you simply set up a website and put a few products on the website and that people will "come banging at the doors."

The conception is that every site on the Internet is visited by many thousands of people. Actually, some sites are hardly visited at all. I’ve had a few of those sites (dogs) over the years.

It’s true that spiders crawl the Internet but they are selective. They are looking for significant content. Some sites are selected for top listing but most are not.

The Internet is a place where people go to find answers to questions. They are there to find a solution to a specific problem.

It is true that not all those who surfs the web are looking for a product. For example the World Wide Web, it’s great capacity to handle huge amounts of traffic, was established by the pornography industry. Some people are looking for this kind of content called smut.

Some surfers want historical information. Some are looking to learn how to do something. Maybe they want a salt water taffy recipe.

If they are looking for a particular product, they often go to Amazon or other large stores.

Something special is needed to compete with such giants.

It is not a big club.

It is that special market which is called a niche market.

Next Part II: Niche Marketing